Herd Record of the Association of Breeders of Thorough-Bred Neat Stock Part 43

STEINMETZ, DANIEL, Sheaneck, Lancaster County, Pa., 13 Pedigrees.

BULLS--Lion 57, Musician 72, Norfolk 81, Prince of Wales 93, William Tell 142.

COWS--Curly 69, Fairy 95, Flora 125, Flotilla 129, Phlox 288, Pretty 294, Queen Victoria 299, Tracy 337.

TILLOTSON, HEZEKIAH, Farmington, Conn., 6 Pedigrees.

BULLS--Comet 23.

COWS--Arabella 8, Aurora 10, Beauty 8th 36, Rosette 317, Ruby 319.

TOMS, SAMUEL, Red House Farm, Elyria, Ohio, 7 Pedigrees.

BULLS--Chipaway 20, Prince of Wales 94, Prince Albert 89.

COWS--Ida 2d 156, Ida 4th 157, Lady Gapper 2d 194, Victoria 3d 344.

VAN RENSSELAER, R. H., Morris, Otsego County, N. Y., 21 Pedigrees.

BULLS--Taurus 120, Thunderer 121, Tiger 123, Tinsel 124, Tippo 125, Tom Thumb 126, Tornado 127, Trinket 128, Trump 130, Turk 131, Tuscarora 134.

COWS--f.a.n.n.y 112, f.a.n.n.y 2d 113, Flame 116, Funny 131, Ladybird 2d 191, Lady Slipper 196, Lalla Rookh 197, Lantern 198, Lucy 219, Lucy 2d 220.

WENTWORTH, JOHN, Chicago, Ills., 13 Pedigrees.

BULLS--Putnam 96, Sir Charles 112, Summit Prince 117, Sumter 118, Turk 132.

COWS--Fantine 114, Gazelle 132, Jennie 164, Minnie 249, Miss Gay 253, Model 254, Rosa 310.

WILLIAMS, LEVI, Ithaca, Tompkins County, N. Y., 7 Pedigrees.

BULLS--Forest City 36.

COWS--Broad Horned Beauty 2d 52, Broad Horned Beauty 3d 53, Dover 81, Dover 2d 82, Excelsior 2d 91, Excelsior 3d 92.

WILSON, R. H., Cambridge, Ohio, 2 Pedigrees.

BULLS--Consul 26.

COWS--Maggie 223.

HISTORY OF THE DEVONS.

_Ancient Races._

IN preparing the following article, we have consulted the princ.i.p.al Agricultural Reports and Journals of this country, and Youatt, and Martin, and Low's histories of British Cattle; we are also indebted to many of our importers and breeders, who have furnished statements in regard to their respective herds. That the Devons are an ancient race of cattle, there can be no doubt. There is no race in England that can claim such undisputed antiquity. They bear all the characteristic marks of resemblance of the ancient races of the south of England and Wales; even the color, red, is traced in the Devon, Suss.e.x and Hereford.

The distinction between a "breed" and "race," Goodale defines as follows: "By breeds are understood such varieties as were originally produced by a cross or mixture, and subsequently established by selecting for breeding purposes only the best specimens, and rejecting all others. In process of time deviations become less frequent, and greater uniformity is secured, and this is in proportion to the time which elapses and the skill employed in selecting. Races are varieties moulded to their peculiar type by _natural_ causes, with no interference of man, and no intermixture of other varieties; that have continued substantially the same, for a period beyond which the memory and knowledge of man does not reach. Such are the North Devon Cattle."

There seems to have been three distinct races of these ancient cattle: the Long Horns, the Middle Horns, and Hornless, or Polled Cattle. The Middle Horns represented the cattle of the region of Devons.h.i.+re. These races of cattle were bred by the Ancient Celtic inhabitants, and const.i.tuted their chief subsistence. Youatt says: "the native inhabitants were proud of their country, and prouder of their cattle, their choicest possession." When their country was invaded by their enemies, they fled to the mountains for safety and protection, and took with them their cattle upon which to subsist, and thus were preserved both themselves and their cattle, so that the races of cattle in these districts have been the same from time immemorial. In a few instances the wild forest cattle have been kept distinct, in a wild state, to this day; as in the parks of Chillingham and Chartley; and are said to be similar to those that existed in the tenth century; and also bear a strong resemblance to the present domestic breeds of that region. The cattle in these parks are white, with red ears.

_Color._

Black or white were the princ.i.p.al colors, though where these were found the memory of the red prevails. "It seems the people had a superst.i.tious reverence attached to it, (in Scotland and Wales), in the tradition of the country; the milk of the red cow was considered a remedy for every disease, and a preservative from every evil." The breeders of the improved Devons adhere scrupulously to the deep red color of the hair, and reject individuals that have a tendency to produce white. And it seems that in this way, if no other, the color of the Devons has been established and perpetuated. The deep red color of the pure bred Devon is implanted so strongly, that there is no race in which an admixture of foreign blood is so easily traced; nor is there a race that has remained so free from foreign intermixture. Their color is generally stamped on the progeny, in a cross with any other breed.

_English Improved Devons._

The improvement of these ancient races of cattle, which has resulted in the present perfected breed, was commenced about one hundred and fifty years ago. John Tanner Davy, of Rose Ash, England, the Editor of the English Devon Herd Book, inherited the herd of his father, who had carefully bred the Devons for fifty years. Mr. Francis Quartly, whose engraving adorns the first volume of Davy's Devon Herd Book, endeavored by a long course of selection, and by an intimate knowledge of the principles of breeding, to combine the various elements in the different herds, so as to attain the great object of the Devon breeder, the lessening of the parts of the animal frame least useful to man, as the bone and offal, and at the same time the increase of such other parts, as fat and flesh, that furnish food, and to do this at the earliest possible age, and with the least consumption of food. That Mr. Quartly succeeded in fully establis.h.i.+ng these characteristics of the breed, we need no better evidence than that nine-tenths of the pedigrees of the present herds in Davy's Herd Book, go directly back to the old Quartly stock; twenty-seven out of twenty-nine of the prize bulls mentioned in that work are descendants from the bull Forester, (46): and twenty-nine out of thirty-four prize cows mentioned there, descended from the cow Curly, (92). Hundred Guinea (56), another noted ancestor of the Quartly tribe, stands in the pedigrees of this breed, as Hubback among the short horns. Among others who have done much to improve their herds, and bring the breed to its present state of perfection, may be mentioned, the Earl of Leicester, James Davy, Mr. Richard Merson, James and John Quartly who also inherited the herds of their fathers, and continued their well begun improvement. Mr. George Turner, of Barton, whose herd was made up from the other breeders, Mr. Samuel Farthing, of Somerset, Mr. John Halse, of Moland, Mr. Wm. Hole, of Somerset, Mr. T. B. Morle, of c.u.mmington, Mr. George Shapland, of Oakford, and Mr. John Ayre Thomas, of Rose Ash, Devon, with many others have caught the spirit of improvement, and continued to progress towards perfection.

_Qualities._

Mr. Bloomfield, the manager of the late Earl of Leicester's estate, at Holkam Hall, Norfolk, England, has, by careful attention, greatly improved the size and quality of the Devons, and increased their milking properties, so that he obtained a prize for having produced an average annual yield of 200 pounds of b.u.t.ter per cow, in a dairy of twenty cows, or equal to four pounds per week the year round; and he offered to milk forty pure Devons from his own herd against an equal number of cows in any one herd of any breed found in England, without finding a compet.i.tor. At the Smithfield show of fat cattle, held at the London market place, in 1858, the gold medal for the best ox or steer of any breed in the show yard was awarded to a Devon, bred and owned by the Earl of Leicester. They are highly esteemed in the Smithfield market, not only for the excellence of the meat, but because its size is more agreeable on most tables than the huge joints of some other breeds. In weight they are much excelled, but the opinion of the Devon breeder is, that more meat can be made from them, with a given amount of food, than from any other breed. The quality of the Devon beef is unsurpa.s.sed, even rivalling the little black West Highland ox, in the estimation of the London west-end butcher, whose fastidious customers oblige him to kill none but beef of the finest quality and flavor. In the New York market the "red oxen of Connecticut" most generally bring the highest price, they being Devon Grades. The Devons have the preference of all other breeds for the yoke, being strong, active, and of great endurance; and are remarkable for docility and good temper.

The cattle in many sections of New England resemble the Devons in many respects, and the fact that most of the early settlers were from the south of England, renders it quite probable that they selected their cattle from that region. The first account that we have of the importation of cattle into New England was in the s.h.i.+p Charity, in the spring of 1623, in the care of Mr Winslow, then agent of the colony of Plymouth. Their descendants show by their color that they were Devons, or Devon grades.

_American Improved Devons._

The first importation of improved North Devons into this country was in 1817. Mr. c.o.ke, then Earl of Leicester, presented to Mr. Robert Patterson, of Baltimore, Md., six heifers and one bull, Taurus (320).

Taurus was bred by Mr. Denny, a tenant of Mr. c.o.ke, then Earl of Leicester, who paid fifty guineas for him. His dam, in 1820, made thirteen pounds of b.u.t.ter per week. Three of these heifers Mr. Patterson gave to his father-in-law, Mr. Richard Caton, the other three he gave to his father, Mr. William Patterson; they were all bred to Taurus. In 1835, Mr. George Patterson came in possession of the herd of his father, Mr. William Patterson, and, in 1836, imported the bull Anchises (140), for a cross, from one of the best dairies in Devons.h.i.+re; he afterward imported Eclipse (191); in 1846, Herod (214), and in 1852, Norfolk (266). By comparing the records the fact is apparent, that the pedigree of animals dates further back in this country than in England. Thus the bull Taurus (320), was calved in 1816, and imported in 1817, when a yearling, by Mr. Robert Patterson, of Md.; Holkham (215), calved 1819; the cow Fancy (709), calved 1818, and Strawberry 1st (1062), calved 1819. While the oldest record of English pedigrees is the bull Forester (46), calved in 1827, and Hundred Guineas (56), calved in 1837; the cows Flower (187), calved in 1820, Countess (77), in 1828, Curly (92), and Pretty Maid (364), were calved in 1830. Messrs. S. & L. Hurlbut, of Winchester, Conn., commenced their herd in 1819, from a pair procured of Mr. Patterson, Holkham (115), and Fancy (709), with additions from the same source every few years. In 1850 they imported Albert (2), whose progeny has stood high in the country, and received more premiums than the progeny of any other bull lately imported. Beauty (523), bred by Mr.

Hurlbut, in 1836, from Fancy (709), and Exchange (197), produced sixteen pounds of b.u.t.ter per week, in June, 1850. Mr. Coleman, says, in his European Agriculture, "the most productive cow in b.u.t.ter, which I have found, was a North Devon, which, for several weeks in succession, without extra feed, produced twenty-one pounds of b.u.t.ter per week. The character of the owner places the fact beyond a doubt."

Mr. L. F. Allen, of Black Rock, N. Y., commenced breeding in 1835, from stock obtained from the Hon. James L. King, of New York, whose father imported them about the year 1819, from the herd of the Earl of Leicester; in 1842 he added to his herd from Mr. Patterson's stock. In 1844 the Ma.s.sachusetts Society for the Promotion of Agriculture imported four cows and one bull, Bloomfield (372), from the Earl of Leicester.

They were boarded and bred for the Society on the farm of Elias Phiney, of Lexington, till his death, the object being to present a pair to each of the County Societies in the State. In 1848, Mr. C. S. Wainwright, of Rhinebeck, N. Y., commenced importing and breeding his herd; his first importation was the bull Megunticook (251), and the cows Nonpareil (924), and Helena (774); Helena gave as high as twenty-two quarts of milk per day, and made fifteen pounds of b.u.t.ter per week. In 1851 he imported May Boy (71), whose granddam, Old May Flower, made over seventeen pounds of b.u.t.ter per week. In 1853, Mr. George Vail, of Troy, N. Y., imported one bull and two heifers from the herds of Mr. Davy and the Earl of Leicester. In 1850 and '52, Col. L. G. Morris, of New York, imported animals from the herds of the Earl of Leicester, the Messrs.

Quartly and John Ayer Thomas. Abijah Catlin, of Conn., imported in 1851, Rubens (116), and two heifers. Many others have imported animals equally meritorious, among whom may be mentioned, Ambrose Stevens, of Batavia, N. Y., E. G. Faile, West Farms, N. Y., R. Linsley, West Meriden, Conn., R. W. Sanford, Orwell, Vt., E. P. Beck, Sheldon, N. Y., and R. H. Van Rensselaer, of Morris, N. Y. Importations have occurred almost annually up to the present year. These importations, with many others not mentioned, are sufficient to form the basis of a superior race of Devons in America, not excelled by those in any other country.

_Devon Herd Book._

The _First Herd Book_ of the Devons was published in 1851, by John Tanner Davy, of Rose Ash, near Southmolton, Devon, England. The pedigrees of 132 bulls and 483 cows, in all 615 animals, were recorded; all bred in England, and contributed by thirty-seven different breeders.

The _second volume_, published in 1854, contained the pedigrees of 221 bulls and 657 cows, 837 animals in all; and was edited by Mr. Davy, in England, and Sanford Howard, in America, comprising animals bred and owned in both countries, sixty breeders contributing in England, and eighteen in America.

The _third volume_ was published in 1859, on both sides of the Atlantic, by Messrs. Davy and Howard, independent of each other, Mr. Davy's third volume recorded 204 bulls and 609 cows, in all 810 pedigrees, from forty-one different herds in England, and eight in America. Mr. Howard's recorded 258 bulls and 399 cows, in all 657 pedigrees, from eighty-four different herds, and all from America.

The whole number recorded to the end of Howard's third volume is 2150 animals, comprising 611 bulls, and 1539 cows.

_American Devon Herd Book._

The present work, the first volume of the American Devon Herd Book, published in March, 1863, under the direction of the a.s.sociation of Breeders of Thorough-Bred Neat Stock, was commenced about two years since. It has progressed amid many discouraging circ.u.mstances, to say nothing of the jealousy occasioned by the locality of its origin; and has gradually won upon public confidence till the present time. It has been the design of the Committee on Devon pedigrees to perfect a Devon Herd Book that would meet the wants of all American Breeders of Devon cattle. To accomplish this they have been untiring in their labors, sparing no pains to thoroughly investigate each pedigree; and have decided upon each, according to the facts received from the testimony given. While some have been rejected, others have been deferred till more light can be given to prove their purity of blood, which may be done in season for the second volume. How far the Committee have accomplished their designs the present volume will show for itself. It is a relief, however, to the Committee to know, that the errors which may occur, can be corrected in future volumes, or the present volume can be perfected and republished. It was also designed to make _this_ the first of a series of volumes, to be published once in four years, or as often as the wants of the Devon breeders demand; and that would be worthy of the t.i.tle of the American Devon Herd Book, and receive the universal patronage of all the Breeders of Devon Stock in America.

Considering the state of the country, and that the attention and time of the great ma.s.s of the people are engaged in the all-absorbing and dreadful reality, civil war, and that many of our breeders and importers of Devon stock are personally engaged in their country's service, and that all the Southern States of our Union have withdrawn themselves from all connection with the Northern; considering all this, the breeders of Thorough-Bred Devon Stock have contributed for the work far beyond our most sanguine hopes. _Fifteen states_ are represented in this work by _fifty-three_ different breeders, with the pedigrees of 151 bulls and 350 cows, making in all 501 animals which are recorded in this volume, and all owned in America.

POINTS OF EXCELLENCE